Metro Cigar News Summer 1998: Frank Vincent

From "reel" life to "real" life, Frank
Vincent's Public Enemy makes the cut
By Bob Nesoff

Over the years cigar smoking has evoked images ranging from rough and tumble gangsters to the elegance of a social event with world leaders at the White House. Even though he hasn't been to the White House, actor Frank Vincent is a conglomeration of both images.

The tough-guy movie actor recently introduced his own brand of cigars, Public Enemy, that would be equally at home in either place as well.

"I've smoked cigars almost all of my adult life," Vincent told MCN recently. "My father smoked cigars and as a kid I liked the smell of them. But I really got into smoking cigars because of Clint Eastwood."

Vincent said the look of Eastwood, with a cigar clamped between his teeth, was much of his inspiration as a smoker.

His first cigar was a Garcia y Vega, purchased 15 to an envelope.

"But it was the pleasure of the smoke that got to me once I began," he said. Vincent, a New Jersey native, formed close friendship with Lou and Karen Silver, proprietors of a Cherry Hill, New Jersey cigar room. From that friendship came the spark of an idea that grew to become Public Enemy.

Lou had trademarked the brand name, a natural for Vincent who makes a career out of playing movie bad guys in films such as "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas" and "Casino" with another New Jerseyan, Joe Pesci.

The discussions gradually took shape and Vincent worked with Silver on developing the blend for the new cigars. The ultimate product had Honduran and Nicaraguan long filler from Cuban seed and a Nicaraguan binder with an Ecuadorian rosado wrapper. They come in five sizes: 5x5l, 6x54, 6.5x54, 7x54 and 9x5.

Public Enemy provides a flavorful and mild to medium bodied smoke.

"I think Cuban cigars are highly overrated," he ventured. "That's not to say that they are bad, just that if there was no embargo, they wouldn't be so desired. It's simple, when you can't get something, you want it even more."

On the current trend in cigars: "I think that it will find its own level after a while. The trend will taper off after the fad is over and those who are true cigar smokers will remain."

Vincent feels the same will hold true for cigars themselves. Smokers will find that the cigars remaining on the market will be the best remaining from those that were developed during the rush." And he has no doubt that Public Enemy will be amongst the survivors.

Frank Vincent was raised in Jersey City, a gritty, rough and tumble urban center on the Hudson River, in sight of New York City and the Statue of Liberty. Political "Wiseguys" ran almost everything there and gave Vincent first hand knowledge of the attitude and demeanor of the people he would late play in the movies.

Before his successful acting career, Frank Vincent put enough time, 20 years, into the music industry where he played drums and did some comedy, to have earned a retirement in most other fields instead of starting a second career.

He was asked to audition for a movie called "Death Collection," later retitled to "Family Enforcer." Another actor in the production was Joe Pesci and the two formed a close, personal friendship that endures today. In the movie, Vincent played a street-smart Jewish businessman.

Three years later he was given a role in Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull," the story of boxing champion Jake LaMotta.

More recently he was cast in "Copland" with Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro. That flick was filmed on location in Edgewater, a small strip-like town along the Hudson River at the base of the towering Palisades and only a few miles upstream from his roots in Jersey City.

Vincent is also active in the community and gives of his time in such functions as the Teen Leadership Institute in Manhattan.

Tough guy, smooth smoke, the combination of Frank Vincent and Public Enemy both seem poised to be on the scene for a long time to come.